Aunt Norie’s Sewing Room

Before you toss that old worn-out pincushion, cut it open and get something to catch those needles that will be there. You will be surprised at how many needles you may find. If the pincushion happens to be one of those big fat round ones, it's bound to be full of pins and needles, those favorite ones you thought you lost, those easy-to-thread.

Thanks, Sally.

Besides it's a lot safer to empty the cushion of those sharp needles, not knowing just where they will travel when you discard it.

She also tells us her granddad sharpens scissors by running the blades across the neck of a small glass bottle. That might not be safe for just anyone to try. He also cuts through sandpaper. Sometimes that's enough to put a good edge on them.

This from, E.S.: She makes those beautiful jean quilts. She cuts squares of the cloth she rips from old jeans, then appliques flowers also cut from fabric. She adds embroidered butterflies, birds, flowers, etc. , then sets them together into beautiful quilts.

She stitches the blocks together on the sewing machine for added strength.

Because those layers of denim are heavy, it helps to lubricate the cloth somewhat by running a bar of soap along the stitching or seam line to be stitched. It saves broken needles, and the soap line will disappear or wash away. That's a new one for me. I'll be sure to try that.

Janet says the hardest thing about learning to sew for her, learning to sew with a needle and thread with a singe thread, now seems so silly.

"But it really was," she said.

You are not alone there, my dear.

Thanks for sending in your tips. There's always someone who needs just that -- a tip -- the things that we discover and learn as we go along, the old tried-and-true tips, things you never find in any book. There are many new seamstresses every day. Just call or drop a note or an e-mail.